I never asked men to stop sucking their wives’ breasts – LASUTH CMD

The Chief Medical Director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Prof. Adewale Oke, has finally broken his silence over his alleged advice to men to stop sucking their wives’ breasts.

In an exclusive interview with NT HEALTH, Oke denied ever giving such advice, saying he only said men should avoid competing with their babies when mothers breastfeed. The cardiologist had last year been reported to have advised men to allow their babies to enjoy their natural meal. He had spoken at the 2015 Edition of the World Breastfeeding Week organised by the hospital and its Community Health and Paediatrics Departments.

According to Oke, his advice was that when a woman is breastfeeding, the child needs as much of the milk as possible and husbands should not compete with their babies for breast milk, saying the more milk the babies take the healthier they become. He said: “It is understandable that men no longer need breast milk to maintain their nutritional status. But for the babies, apart from enhancing bonding between the babies and their mothers, also because human milk has immunoglobulin that protects them against childhood illnesses and the protein needed by the babies can only be produced by human beings and not by cattle.”

Asked about how long men should stay away from their wives’ breast, Oke said two years would be ideal, while also revealing that the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends, at least, a year of exclusive breast milk for sound and quality growth and development of the babies. “I knew about the noise the report generated as several friends and colleagues bombarded me with calls making fun of the whole situation. But they all understood I was quoted out of context and I had ignored all noise it generated. But I feel the clarification is ideal for the sake of innocent people who might have taken the news reports too seriously,” Oke addedadded.

Valentine Chinyem is a writer, editor, educationist and a human developer. He is passionate about Nigeria, her culture and people; and believes the media in Nigeria, should do more to sell the country positively to the rest of the world